Footwear for my Chaco deformed feet

Have you tried either of these brands? I've found them to be bigger volume in the front than many other brands.

Not tried any Scarpa (not seen them locally) but I have tried on two different Lowes. Can't recall what the problem was, but they didn't seem to fit me well… I'll give them a whack again and see how it feels.

just continue wearing Chaco sandals?

Hey Aaron,
I have really wide feet also and i really like the roomy toe box they give on these shoes so your toes can splay and not feel smooshed together. I don't know how you feel about more minimal footwear but the main reason i bought these shoes were because the even support it gives throughout my feet and does not raise on the heel and overall gives less protection than normal trail runners. They are also really light!

@Jerry
Chaco sandals don't hack it a northern Minnesota winter… Between the sore ankles and bloody feet, I'm hesitant to use them for summer backpacking. They also don't make appropriate footwear for northern Minnesota winters. Even if I did end up wearing them for summer backpacking, I'd still need to find something for winter and the cold parts of spring and fall.

@Samuel
Never tried the Merrell Trail Gloves. I haven't seen them in a shop yet, but I'll keep my eyes peeled. Never used any sort of minimal shoe.

10.5 to an 11. feet getting busted up ? nothing fits? uhhh.. ya.

my latest fling, and it's been very sweet so far, is with the Meindle Perfect's from Cabelas. they run fully half a size big, so for my almost 11', the 10.5 are spacious. and room's a good thing to have. a good fit for peter is that it's too big when it gets here, and after being soaked for a week or two in the bush, it pulls in where it needs to. (is a hard thing to guess at).

the toughest part was developing the huevos to step off the plane wearing shoes too big.

at one point i was comfortably wearing 10.5's at the start, but i mailed a set of 11's out in front to to central BC. they felt like a shot of demerol. i tried 11/5'sthe next season and ended up wearing two pairs socks and it was not a total success. thusly (and all were the same model) i am in that brand (LL Bean Cresta) an 11 wide. still, when coming out of the box, they are Vast.

14 prs of Cresta's later i changed from an F superfeet to an E in the new wide format. this moved the arch back, and it destroyed my heel, ruined a trip, cost me a year i don't have, and about 10K$.
so be careful.
—
my latest workout dogma is to stand in the river for a bit and hike with soaked boots. this seems to be a better simulation of what things are like in the bush.
—
this summer i am trying those ridiculous toe socks, and leuka-p tape, and benzion compound. all with either/both the F series superfoot's and the meindle sock liner.
— the Perfect's have a very determined asymetry to them in the big toe area. it's a different beast than the other Meindl's. not everly stiff either. i am hoping to squeeze a few extra K a day out of the package.

cheers,
peter v.

After talking with a PT friend and a few folks back channel, I think most of my problem finding a shoe that both fits and doesn't hurt is the lack of arch support, or the fact that I'm not using them. Probably obvious to most- perhaps Chacos have deformed my brain, too. :)

Just got a pair of Superfeet (Wide, F) and have seen some improvement in the last few days. They fit perfectly in the Montrail Sabino Trail Mids, but are too big for the Brooks Cascadia. I'll try a normal width Superfeet or another insole in them to see how they work out.

Going to give them a little time. If the insoles help, my only remaining problem is finding a pair of trail runners/light hikers that have a deep heel cup. I'm a little worried that the heel cup on the Cascadias won't be deep enough if I have a thick insole like the Superfeet Green in the shoe.

If only the Vasque Velocity VST didn't fall apart after half a day!

Thanks for the ideas!

Hey, Aaron.
I can't be of much help to you, except to say that I've really picky feet that need plenty of arch support. I wore Goodfeet inserts (nothing else worked) for a few years and liked them – but I think I wore them out. Rather than spend another $150+ on inserts I hunted for a mid-boot that would suffice without. I, too, tried just about everything I could get my feet in, and in the end, went with a pair of Lowas. The arch support and heel cups are a little more pronounced than the other brands I tried; they usually feel pretty good around the office (hard floors, no work stations), but they feel great on the trail.

I'll have to try out some more Lowas. A pronounced arch may be OK… Given my experience with the Chacos, I can probably deal with a little more arch better than too little.

It's probably also worth checking out whether my insurance will get me some custom orthotics, especially if I end up with a shoe/boot that doesn't have some sort of built-in arch support.

Why can't Chaco just add a rock shield to their sandal footbed and build a shoe on that platform? Bah!

Hi Aaron,

Frustrating search. I'll echo that Keenes have a larger toebox than most, which suits my feet but I have no experience (yet) with their trail shoes. Are they all too heavy and stiff, or are some built of lighter materials?

The majority of toebox designs are too narrow for me. However, New Balance offers wide sizing and may be worth a look. I find certain North Face models fit my toes without being too wide for the rest of my feet. Some of their trail sneakers are very good and relatively unknown among hikers for some reason.

It may be you have to get a wide size and take up extra volume with a thicker, space-reducing insole to tweak the fit. The Superfeet system is set up to add or reduce shoe volume (to an extent) and sock thickness also has an effect.

Good luck!

Rick

I wear Chaco's in the good months and when walking or hiking I only wear Keen now. The toe box is why – it takes my toes that have spread with 2 kids and from wearing sandals so much.

Try more than one Keen on though – I wear low cut Voyagers and medium cut Tar-whatevers and find them fine with weight – not too heavy, not too light.

But again…everyone's feet are different :-)

Hi Aaron

The brands you listed are mostly from the dinosaur boot brigade (not the Keens of course). And they are for thin narrow feet.

Many of us have switched to low-cut joggers from New Balance. They work fine, and go up to 6E in width, have a variety of different foot lasts as well. Once you find what size you need you can buy them over the web. Quite a few reviews of NB joggers have been done here at BPL too.

Cheers

Aaron,
I use to sale athletic shoes to alot of people hooked on brikenstocken sandals and surfers who only wore rainbow sandals. Roger has the right idea of New Balance brand because of the varying widths. But also the leather arch wrap were the "NB" logos is act as a pretty good arch support.

Also if the New Balance shoe don't work out most athletic or shoe repair shops have shoe width stretchers that we would use by wetting the shoe down and stretching the width with the tool.

I also explained to my customers that it took you awhile to get use to wearing sandals all the time so just expect the same with the shoes.

Yeah on New Balance's – I wear those for gym shoes and for some walking. One of the very few brands I can get to fit my wider toes and narrow heels….ain't cheap though!

Have you considered or tried on any Salomons? I need a wide toebox to accommodate a temperamental bunion on my left foot, and I've had success with both their trail runners and boots. Not that I'd suggest the boots on THIS forum ;)

are you sized up a full shoe size in your hiking shoes? many times i feel people think they need wider shoes when really they need longer shoes to have the shoe fitting properly…

OK, some questions to ask LIFO…

@Josh
Not necessarily, but I tried it. I think following that rule of thumb is what has gotten me into trouble to some extent. I sized up a full size in order to get a shoe that seemed like it fit. When I did this, many of the low top shoes would have a lot of rubbing on the back of my ankles. Embarrassing as it is, it took me a while to realize that I was getting shoes too big. I'm not encountering problems at the end of a 15 mile day- just trying on shoes in the store, or going on a short hike (3 mi) over my lunch break.

@Jason
I tried a few Salomon models in the store at the suggestion of the clerks, though I've generally steered clear of them as they have generally seemed on the narrow end of things. Only tried on various trail runners/light hikers from them, though. IIRC, the clerk had me try on the XA Comp and XA Pro (?). The Comp felt OK, but both were very narrow/tight around the ankles.

@Roger, Terry, Sarah
I'm not sure I have wide feet, per se. Just weird feet! I'm overweight, but I also genuinely have "big bones" – all of my joints are a bit exaggerated, including my ankles. The shoe measurement thing always says I'm a D or E in width, though a lot of D width shoes feel like vice clamps.

I do think New Balance sounds like a great option, and I think I'll just have to start ordering online from a place like Zappos. We have a decent variety of running and outdoors stores around here, with a pretty wide selection of shoes. But when it comes to NB, there aren't many trail shoes stocked locally- they're all more road shoes, general trainers, etc. I tried the NB 809 in 4E and 11.5, but it was *way* too big. Felt good though, and I would have had the room for an insole like the Superfeet- but 11.5 was too big.

Any specific New Balance models to recommend? A low top with a deep heel cup or a mid? Anything with decent motion control/arch support, or does it just make more sense to go neutral and get insoles?

I think I'd be happy with the Montrail Sabino Trail Mid GTX if only it didn't have a Gore-Tex lining. Worked well for the winter, but not going to like it much in the summer…

After checking out *every* shoe store in town, I've discovered a few things and tried a few more shoes. Of course, since hearing I have been getting along with the Sabino Trail Mid GTX, Montrail has decided to discontinue it in Fall. At least I'll be able to buy a few pair to have on hand as winter hikers. Bah.

Tried and failed:
– Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra: I've avoided Salomon as they usually seem narrow. Tried the regular width XA Pro 3D Ultra at a local store and was pleasantly surprised- deep heel; almost no heel lift; and wider than the XA Comps, XT Wings, and other Salomons I've tried on. Too tight, but it is made in a wide!
– Vasque Velocity VST: Got a pair off of SAC 0.5 size bigger as the 10.5 I first tried seemed a bit tight. My feet slide forward in these while walking, especially on a down slope. *sigh* Going back, and don't plan on trying the wide version for fear of the VST Buldge of Death.
– Vasque Velocity: No foot travel issues, but toe box is smaller than the VST's. Pointy to the point of pain.
– Brooks Adrenaline ASR 7: Max width is 2E, and way too tight. Less room than in the Cascadia's in D width? No dice.

—
Fail
– New Balance 910: No dice. Ordered in the same size I would for anything else by New Balance w/ a PL-1 last – 10.5 4E. Shoe is a full size longer than marked and a full size less wide – feels like a 2E rather than 4E. Heel area is huge, causing a ton of lift and slip. Not going to try the 10 in 4E, as it'll be even tighter and the
heel will still probably be too loose- I can get a finger in between my heel and the shoe without trying too hard.
– New Balance 876: Close. Fit in the heel is OK, still a little loose, but requires tying laces tighter than I'd like. Heel counter not deep enough to accommodate Superfeet Green.
– Salomon XA Pro 3D Ultra M+: I'm confused. They don't seem any wider than the regular width. Sizing is a bit short and the toebox is tight. Sizing up doesn't 1/2 size didn't help. Lacing system and lack of loop lacing options cause lots of heel slip.

Maybe
– Merrel Moab Ventilator: I've worn these before, and they weren't durable. But, they still fit. At least there's something to go back to.
– Merrel Radius: Seem roomy in the D width enough that they could work. Not sure if they're appropriate, haven't done any research yet. Not airy at all, would get hot and not dry out quickly.

Going to Try
– New Balance 813, 814 and/or 915: Shoe store ordering these for me to try on.